Michael Gribbins knows how hard it is sometimes to make a buck.
A construction worker by trade, he moved from Cincinnati to Owenton to escape the city and better his life.
However, he found it difficult to make connections as the new guy in a rural community.
“Living in a small town, if they don’t know you, they don’t want to work you,” he said.
Gribbins has now turned to Meeting the Needs, a faith-based organization combining the efforts and donations of many local churches and volunteers to help the community.
Sully Runion helped spearhead the project — which offers food, clothing and assistance to those in need — near the first of the year. He said as many as 90 percent of those utilizing the group’s services said they were in need of work.
Runion has decided to try to meet those needs by helping line up those looking for workers with those looking for work.
He plans to put fliers up in churches and local businesses seeking employers, wanting people to contact him by phone at 484-1225 “if you have work, whether it be a half-day’s worth, a week’s worth or long term.”
Marylin Wilson and her son Williamare also seeking work through the program, which Runion said about two dozen people have contacted him about so far.
“Finding work in Owenton, it’s hard,” Marylin Wilson said. “This way people know you’re looking for work and willing to help — and make money, too.”
She once labored for four to six hours, cleaning and scrubbing for a person in Owenton, only to be paid with a roll of quarters.
Runion said he expects requests for workers to increase in the summer months, as farmers seek helping hands.
He said he expects workers to get paid “at least minimum wage.”
“We’re here to help people,” he said, telling those who only want cheap labor from the program: “They’re not meeting the needs.”
Michael Gribbins said he wants to show people that he’s honest and a hard worker — and use Meeting the Needs to help make ends meet.
“Even if it’s not fulltime, you can work a couple of days and get a bill paid,” he said.
Runion said the program can be “the difference between getting the bills paid or not.”
And, though he has already had help finding jobs from Sheriff Zemer Hammond and others, “we have more people needing jobs than jobs for them to go to,” Runion said.
And he hopes to find more employers to help meet those needs in the coming weeks.

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